Research reveals crocs' nomadic lives

Crocodile researchers in the Northern Territory say they have learnt a lot about the behaviour of the reptile since fitting them with satellite devices.

Researchers have recorded the movements of 22 male saltwater crocodiles with the transmitters.

The researchers say they now want to start fitting young saltwater crocodiles with satellite devices to learn about their behaviour.

The joint study by Wildlife Management International and the NT Parks and Wildlife Service has been monitoring the reptiles for the past year.

One of the researchers, Charlie Manolis, says the study has shown the reptile lives a nomadic life.

"We've put one in the Blyth River, into the Mary, and he's just set up the Mary as his base of operations and he just goes out of the Mary, goes off the Kakadu National Park, then comes back and then he goes off to the Adelaide River and comes back, goes to the Wileman comes back," he said.

"He's a bit of a yo-yo."

Mr Manolis says they want to start looking at the habits of younger salties.

"We'd really like to target some smaller males now - those sort of three-, three-and-a-half-metre perhaps even smaller," he said.

"They're the sort of animals that we know are responsible for a lot of the non-fatal attacks."